Kazdan Paratus
Kazdan Paratus was an Aleena Jedi Knight and General who fought in the Clone Wars and survived Order 66. Biography Early life In his early life and work towards the Jedi Trials, Paratus did not possess the detachment most Jedi needed in order to pass the Jedi Trials, instead preferring to hole himself in his room and to build droids for the Jedi Temple, to aid in training Padawans. After completing the Trials with his machines, Paratus was appointed a Jedi Knight of the Galactic Republic. During the final days of the Republic, Paratus was the Jedi Temple's head engineer and leader of the Technical division, a position the Jedi Council appointed to him due to his skills as an extraordinary droid maker. He was responsible for many exceptional and unique machines that were in possession of abilities far beyond those of average droids. He worked in seclusion on Coruscant until the Clone Wars broke out. The Clone Wars Refusing to pass up the opportunity to study the droids of the Separatists, Paratus lived life on the front lines, building medical and power droids as well as other machines designed to support the Grand Army of the Republic. Eventually, he took command of a group of clone troopers that were mostly killed off in a disastrous campaign. Due to these circumstances, he was forced to create his own troops that consisted of combat droids that he assembled using makeshift parts. After a great battle, the Jedi Knight returned to the Temple a few days before the issuance of Order 66. The Great Jedi Purge With the activation of Order 66 and the subsequent execution of Operation: Knightfall, the Jedi Temple was sacked by the 501st Legion, led by none other than Darth Vader. In the face of this brutal carnage, Paratus panicked and fled the Temple in an act of cowardice. He escaped Coruscant in a nondescript freighter with several droid prototypes in tow.Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Prima Official Game Guide Wracked with guilt over his abandonment of the Jedi, Paratus descended into insanity. Going into hiding on the waste-covered planet of Raxus Prime, he became a reclusive droid maker. Paratus built an army of personally customized combat droids to protect himself from intruders, creating such types as the Scrap Guardian, Junk golem and Junk Titan. To increase his size and mobility, he designed four mechanical arms to wear on his back. While on the junkyard world, Paratus built a Jedi Temple from scratch out of refuse and made puppets of all the Jedi councilors for the Council Chamber, arming them with various melee weapons. Death Approximately 16 years after Order 66, the insane Jedi was discovered by Darth Vader, who sent his apprentice, Galen Marek on a mission to eliminate the Aleena Jedi. Paratus noticed his ship landing and began to worry about what he should do. He consulted a metallic effigy of Jedi Master Yoda as to this matter and grew nervous after his silent "answer," moving his lightsaber from hand to hand.''Star Wars: The Force Unleashed'' (novel) After navigating the junk world, Marek arrived in Paratus's facsimile Temple and was confronted by a Junk Titan armed with two large vibro-axes and a variety of weapons tipping its other arms. The Sith apprentice dodged blows from the junk warrior, and as the floor buckled under the Titan's weight, knocked off one of its weapons with a telekinetic punch. Dodging another attack by the golem, slicing as he went, Marek removed more of its weapons. He rolled through the machine's legs and cut up its spine, scoring a deep blow. The crippled machine attempted to turn at the man, but he used his lightsaber to cut at both its vibro-axe arms, forcing it to drop one axe. He sent a barrage of lightning at the machine, sending all the strength he could muster at it. Its photoreceptors became nonfunctional, though it still charged at Marek with its other axe. The apprentice used the Force to push the creature, knocking it off one of its legs through the walls of the Temple, following it and finally bringing it down in a junk version of the High Council Chamber of the Jedi Temple with junk effigies of the late or missing council members. From a hatch in the machine's front emerged the Jedi Master that Marek had been searching for. Paratus swore he would protect the "Masters" and the mannequins began to stir, distracting the apprentice. Paratus lunged at the invader, slightly scoring a cut down Marek's left arm before it was parried. Though Marek fought back, every move he made was either blocked almost instantly by the Aleena's Lightsaber pike or missed because of the Jedi's constant hopping from place to place. During the battle, Marek was suddenly struck from behind and his lightsaber fell from his hand. He turned to see a junk version of Plo Koon standing behind him in a Form V stance, a vibroblade in place of his lightsaber. After a moment of surprise, Marek used the Force to blow apart the patchwork tribute and regained his lightsaber, deflecting a blow from the recovered Paratus. More "Masters", including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker attempted to face the apprentice, but all were destroyed. With each "death," Paratus clasped his chest deeper in pain and despair at their loss, crying out when the last one fell. Marek grabbed the Jedi in a tight telekinetic hold and slammed him across the room, pounding him into submission. When he was sure that the Jedi was finished, Marek let Paratus fall to the ground. As he lay dying, Paratus uttered his last words, apologizing to the Masters for failing them yet again. Paratus then became one with the Force and his body disappeared in a flash. Legacy After Paratus' death, Marek claimed Paratus's lightsaber pike as a gift for his master, as other than being snapped in half, it had survived the ordeal it had gone through when Paratus was crushed. Although he took the damaged weapon to his quarters and attempted for an hour to repair it, he was unsuccessful in restoring the weapon as he could not realign the focusing crystals to the lens and failed to connect the emitter matrix to the power conduit. Later, Darth Sidious learned about Darth Vader's secret apprentice and their plan to kill him. Palpatine had his spies follow the Rogue Shadow to the Executor, Darth Vader's still uncompleted flagship. The Emperor boarded and told Vader to kill the apprentice, at which he reluctantly complied, impaling Marek, using the Force to throw him around the room, and finally out of a viewport into the vacuum of space. While he floated there, drifting in and out of consciousness, he experienced numerous visions of past and future events, including one of Paratus worriedly watching the Shadow land on the surface of Raxus Prime. Due to Paratus' death, Raxus Prime was left defenseless, as Paratus' droids had protected the planet during Paratus' lifetime. Although Rodian scavengers remained on the planet for some time, the Empire soon took over the planet, stripping its metals to create Star Destroyers, leaving little for scavengers to obtain. The metals and ores stripped from the planet after Paratus' death were used in orbiting construction facilities, such as the one Marek later destroyed using an ore cannon. Personality and traits As a young Jedi, Paratus was more anti-social than some Padawans, preferring to hole himself up in his personal quarters to work upon his droids than to socialize. Not possessing the detachment of most Jedi, Paratus created the droids originally to aid with training Padawans in the Temple, and managed to pass his trials not through physical prowess with a lightsaber, but with intelligence. However, when Order 66 was initiated, and Operation: Knightfall subsequently occurred, Paratus fled the Jedi Temple in an act of cowardice, leaving his comrades to their fate at the hands of Darth Vader and the 501st Legion. After abandoning the Jedi at the Temple on Coruscant, Paratus was consumed by guilt, which would eventually lead to madness. The initial stages of his insanity caused Paratus to form an inferiority complex regarding his small size, prompting him to construct the four mechanical limbs he kept strapped to his back to provide him with the desired height and mobility.The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide The next stage of his madness causes him to fall into a delusion of being a member of the Jedi council, which in turn motivates him to construct the replica of the Jedi temple out of the abundant debris on Raxus Prime.Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (novel) By the time Paratus faced Marek in combat, the Aleena Jedi was past the brink of schizophrenia, as shown by how he reconstructed all the Jedi council members out of junk and believing them to be the actual individuals. Powers and abilities Due to a special robotic rig on his back which served as additional limbs for him, Paratus was able to walk on walls and vertical surfaces. A Shien practitioner, Paratus handled his lightsaber pike with two of his mechanical limbs, allowing him to wield his chosen weapon with great dexterity, as shown by the way he mounted almost continuous attacks upon Marek during their duel. He was also able to use his lightsaber staff to block the various counter-attacks utilized by Marek. Adept with the Force, Paratus had a great level of control over his droid creations, and was capable of giving life to robotic creations that were subject to his will. He was capable of making such creations like the Junk Titan in a short span of time and with ease. With his death, all of the junk creatures he created collapsed. In combat, Paratus had the ability to suspend himself in mid-air and to hurl objects at an opponent using the Force, as he demonstrated against Marek. Behind the scenes Kazdan Paratus was voiced by Larry Drake in [[Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (video game)|''The Force Unleashed video game]]. Kazdan Paratus wields a blue Long-handle lightsaber in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, but a yellow double-bladed lightsaber with an elongated hilt in the Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS versions. The novelization also describes his lightsaber staff as having two blades, one significantly shorter than the other. Kazdan's death also plays out differently in the Wii and PS2 versions; instead of crushing him with junk as in the PS3 and Xbox 360 version, Starkiller smashes him against a wall before finishing him off with Force lightning. Kazdan Paratus does not appear in the graphic novel adaptation of The Force Unleashed.Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (comic) In The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide, Paratus is depicted as having a yellow Long-handle lightsaber. The Latin word "Paratus", Kazdan's surname, is an adjective meaning "prepared", or "ready". Appearances *''The Force Unleashed'' novel *''Star Wars: The Force Unleashed'' video game Sources *''The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide'' *''Star Wars Miniatures: The Force Unleashed'' * Notes and references Category:Aleena Category:Cyborgs Category:Engineers Category:Jedi Generals Category:Jedi Purge victims Category:Males Category:Post-Ruusan Jedi Knights de:Kazdan Paratus es:Kazdan Paratus it:Kazdan Paratus nl:Kazdan Paratus fi:Kazdan Paratus